Tennis legend Ivan Lendl turns to pickleball, and no, not casually

Think back to the 1980s tennis reign of Ivan Lendl and you conjure the image of a singularly focused athlete, chiseled and honed, with a no-nonsense, machine-like ability to wear down any and all comers.

At first glance, that’s not what you see today when you stumble upon the 63-year-old legend. Thicker, grayer, less spring, and … what’s this? Yes, an occasional smile.

But dig down into his newest athletic passion, and it doesn’t take long for the long-ago Lendl to remind you he’s still around.

“Let’s put it this way,” he begins. “You don’t really know me, but know that when I do something, I do it 100 percent.”

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So, pickleball as mere hobby? Not a chance.

“It’s something I think I can get pretty decent at,” he says.

Less than a year after first holding a paddle, Lendl is making the tournament rounds, including last Sunday’s stop in Holly Hill for the Conviva Pictona Open, where he partnered with his instructor, Alex Mabred, to earn third-place in 5.0  men’s doubles, 40-and-over division.

Forty-and-over, even at 63, because Mabred is just 41. And 5.0, the highest level ... well, because he’s Ivan Lendl.

“Reflexes don’t age,” Mabred said of his tournament partner, whose reflexes helped compile one of the all-time great tennis portfolios: 94 singles titles, eight majors, and 270 weeks atop the world rankings in an era that included John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors as his main rivals.

Lendl, who lives in Vero Beach, first tried pickleball last November after one of his five daughters, Isabelle, encouraged him to join her regular group.

“She wants me to play some tournaments with her,” Lendl says. “So I said, ‘if I’m going to play tournaments with you, I have to practice a little bit.’ ”

A little bit? Lendl doesn't do little bits.

His tennis brilliance was built through an unmatched training and practice regimen, along with a studious mind and hard-wired desire to unleash every physical and mental advantage available.

And when chronic back issues ended his career at 34, he healed enough to finally turn all attention to another passion — golf.

"I was born and raised to compete," he says.

Dreams of reaching the game’s highest levels fell short, but not for lack of effort. He went from good golfer to a single-digit handicap to scratch in relatively short order, and all these years later he’s still a regular on the course and, naturally, the practice facilities.

Just not as regular as he once was, given the few days a week he now spends on the pickleball court.

“In a way, it has helped my golf game,” he said during a break in play Sunday. “I used to play golf six times a week. So now, I can’t play tomorrow. I’ll be sore. But if I loosen up, I can practice. I’m practicing short irons, short game and putting, and I’m good by Tuesday.

“It also has loosened up my hips a bit.”

Those hips, by the way, are after-market accessories. Twin replacements several years ago brought an end to his occasional visits to the tennis court. Pickleball, he soon learned, delivered less physical stress than tennis but, over the course of several games, a workout nonetheless.

“When I started playing, I realized it’s good exercise,” he says. “My body was hurting, but then I started getting better, started getting used to it.”

It’s no surprise that he’s somewhat analytical about the mixing of his two games of choice.

“I can play pickleball two days in a row and play golf the next day,” he says. “Or I can play three days in a row and there’s no golf on the fourth day.”

Lendl being Lendl, there’s also part of one day each week devoted to pickleball drills with Mabred, a Vero Beach tennis instructor who has added pickleball coaching to his business card. Nothing physically challenging on the day of drills, but repetitive “feel” shots, such as the important short-game skills (“dinking”) up near the net.

During Sunday’s tournament play at Pictona, Lendl’s dinking ability was fairly consistent. But eventually in pickleball, someone either loses patience or makes the mistake of leaving a shot high enough for an opponent to pounce, and a lightning-quick back-and-forth often ensues until someone hits a winner.

And that’s when you quickly notice the ageless hand-eye skills of an athlete from an altogether different level.

“Dinking can be hard for me,” Lendl says. “I prefer the gunfights.”

And yes, he still prefers winning. Illuminating on that desire, he tells a story of old friend and fellow pickleballer Joel Quenneville, the legendary former NHL coach. The two were on opposite sides of the net for the final game of a day’s play. Lendl and his partner lost.

“Joel says to me, ‘You know, you can’t win ’em all,’ ” Lendl recalls. “I said, ‘Joel, you know you’re wrong.’

“The following week, we play, and I win them all. I said, ‘Joel, now I know why you’re such a good hockey coach. You motivated me by saying I couldn’t win them all.’ ”

Some reflexes are of the mental variety, and for Lendl, those also haven't aged.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Pickleball is Ivan Lendl's newest passion; yes, he's still competitive